Or get the 9.34 Southeastern High Speed train from St Pancras International (slightly higher fare and no boundary zone tickets allowed) to Ashford, arriving 10.11, to connect with the above train, departing 10.33.
Buy a day return to Deal. If buying the ticket at St Pancras, use the ticket machines on the mezzanine level from where the Southeastern high speed trains depart, as only these offer the cheaper super off-peak fares. The tickets on the main concourse downstairs do not offer these.
For walk directions click here. (Reverse walk directions start in paragraph 74 on page 8: obviously for the most part you don't need any - just keep the sea on your left - but they are useful in a few places, eg at the start and finish, going into and out of St Margaret's Bay).
A gorgeous walk along the White Cliffs (with views of the EU on clear days...); but first the wonderful display of shingle flowers on Walmer and Kingsdown beaches, which should be at its best right now (see photo).
I particularly like doing this walk backwards. You get the longer rail journey out the way first, and the scenery builds in interest, with the best section saved till last (when it is also less busy with day trippers).
Doing the walk in this direction also gives you a choice of two lunch pubs, both with outside tables right by the beach, both very busy on sunny days, it has to be said... The first, after about 3 miles, is the Zetland Arms, which serves food 12-2.45pm. It is another three miles to St Margaret's Bay, where the Coastguard serves food all afternoon. It might be no bad thing to arrive a bit after the main lunchtime rush.
Tea options include * the tea kiosk on St Margaret's Beach * the cafe of the St Margaret's Museum, on the left on the track as you walk out of town * the cafe of the South Foreland Lighthouse, where you can sit outside and look down over the sea * the cafe of the White Cliffs Visitor Centre near Dover.
It is probably a bit too early in the season for sea swimming (sea temperature 13 degrees and it doesn't look as if the air temperature will be super hot either) but if you fancied a brief token dip, St Margaret's Bay is your best bet. Kingsdown (ie opposite the Zetland Arms) is also possible, but currents are strong here. High tide is 11 am and low tide is 6pm
Dover itself is....disappointing, though there is now a beach bar at the eastern end of its seafront.
Trains back from Dover are at 49 past to St Pancras (1hr 05 minutes) or 30 past (though oddly no 18.30 train.....??) to Charing Cross (1hr 53 minutes)
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N=17 on this walk, on a w=much-sunnier-than-expected day, given the weather forecast. There was no real sign of chilly northerly winds, and the cloud kept politely inland until later in the afternoon. We will draw a veil over the brief sprinkling of rain as we approached Dover. A letter has been written to its parents.
Most came on the slow train, the high speed train admittedly not offering a big advantage on the outbound journey. A canny few spotted that it gave big advantages on the return leg. But in the end they turned out to be not so canny, as I will shortly relate.
The shingle flowers between Walmer and Kingsdown did not disappoint - great swathes of red (valerian) and other blooms. Three, I understand, stopped for lunch at the Zetland Arms. The rest of us breezed on through and up onto the cliffs.
Quite a few common blues here - and a wall (these are butterflies). Also two corn buntings (a red-listed farmland bird). Then on to St Margaret’s Bay, where the blue sea beckoned in its Mediterranean cove.
Four of us swam - for a few minutes. Three pronounced the temperature fine: one (me) thought it decidedly chilly, but not unexpectedly so. Exciting to think of the four months of sea swimming to come.
Ten or eleven of us ate lunch on the terrace of the Coastguards pub - very tasty and efficient as always.
Coming out of St Margaret’s we came across the surreal sight of maybe 40 chunky blokes with even chunkier lenses standing on a hillside facing an area of shrubs. It seems a Sardinian warbler (a bird) had been sighted. But if it had, it was now cowering in the bushes, doubtless scared out of its wits. Interestingly our group also included a Sardinian, though how his warbling is we are not sure.
Several us had tea overlooking the sea at South Foreland lighthouse. Two went up the tower. Approaching Dover there were lots of ferries gliding in and out, both DFDS ones and the ones we don’t use anymore. The coast of France was visible to Calais and beyond. The port was scarily empty of trucks, though. Look upon your works, ye Brexit, and despair.
I hear that four people managed to get a train at around 5pm from Dover. If so, they were lucky because everything went into meltdown thereafter due to what Network Rail always accurately term “a signal failure”. Some of us managed a beer in a microbrewery while we came to terms with the situation. There was talk of among non-high speeders of taking the 18.49 to St Pancras and damming the consequences.
But the 18.49 proved to be an illusion and instead we piled into what we were promised would be the 19.30 slow train to Charing Cross. We took over four tables in the first carriage and made enough noise to ensure no one else occupied the others (at least not initially).
Wine materialised. Cheese too. People went to get fish and chips. The train left on time and we had a grand party all the way back to London Bridge, what you might call a proper Downing Street session. There have been worse days.
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